Gene Kelly’s widow debunks popular myth about his relationship with Debbie Reynolds

nypost.com:

how the late actor treated Debbie Reynolds on the set of “Singin’ in the Rain.”“It’s been circulated for decades that he worked Debbie so hard in ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ that her feet bled all over the floor — it is just not true,” Patricia said in an interview with Remind magazine published last week.Gene’s third wife added that Reynolds “actually thanked him many times for giving her her career.”The famed choreographer directed Reynolds and starred alongside her in the beloved 1952 musical comedy.Gene died at 83 in 1996, while Reynolds died at 84 in 2016.Patricia told the magazine that many of Kelly’s other past co-stars cherished working with him.“George Chakiris, Leslie Caron and many other dancers have shared with me how Gene was thoughtful with people,” she said. “He was always worried about performers getting shin splints dancing on the hard surfaces,” Patricia added of the “Hello, Dolly!” director. “He certainly had high expectations of himself and of others, but performers, grips, camera operators and cinematographers have all let me know how professional and kind he was.”Patricia also debunked another rumor related to “Singin’ in the Rain.”“I don’t know why it keeps resurfacing, but there is no milk in the water for the iconic ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ number in the film,” she shared. “It is simply phenomenal lighting and cinematography backlighting the rain.”In the romantic comedy, Reynolds plays aspiring actress Kathy Selden, who falls in love with Kelly’s aging silent-era star Don Lockwood.Reynolds told the Sunday Express in 2013 how her “feet were bleeding from all that dancing” during filming. “If I wasn’t smiling, Gene would yell at me to smile more.